At the New York Wine and Food Festival last month, and soon after the debut of his 50,000 square ft. Italian-goods-mecca Eataly, restaurateur Joe Bastianich told The Feast that the future of the Batali-Bastianich empire is in retail. "It's all about grocery stores," he said. Today, Mario and Joe make a landgrab in the suburbs, opening Tarry Market in Port Chester, NY. The grocer is stocked with imported provisions, cured meats, cheese, bread, and coffee, and is next door to their Italian restaurant Tarry Lodge, which straddles the Fairfield County-Westchester border. (This is very convenient for Bastianich, who resides in an Italian villa in Greenwich.) It's no Eataly, but hey.
Inevitable parking havoc aside, locals are excited about Port Chester becoming an eating destination. Across the street, at the Kneaded Bread—a 12-year old bakery favored among Greenwich and Rye residents which is expanding in early 2011 to compete with Tarry Market—one customer said, "This town was an out and out dump ten years ago, and now it's the eating capital of Westchester."
Next week Tarry Market's adjacent wine store will open, and it's rumored that there is another Batali-Bastianich restaurant in PoCho's future. One customer alleged, "I heard they bought Ebb Tide, [a fish shack/bait shop/market located on the Byram River waterfront, which closed in January]. People say they're going to open a seafood restaurant there." [The Feast]
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